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<\/p>\nAt least for birds in flight.<\/p>\n
Since the mirrorless Canon R5 was released about two years ago there’s been a lot of hype about it being a “game changer” for bird photographers. I tend to be a skeptic about such claims and I also knew that mirrorless cameras in general are a little freaky in the way they operate. So even though I began looking for a new camera that would suit me at just about the time the R5 came out, I resisted purchasing it (or the somewhat similar R6) for a very long time. The damn thing is expensive (nearly $4K) and I sure didn’t want to spend that much money on a camera that wasn’t a major improvement over my Canon 7D Mark II, or was too quirky for me in the way it operates, or both. But two months ago I was finally seduced so I took the plunge.<\/p>\n
Today’s post will not be a comprehensive review of the R5. I’m going to focus on a specific capability that is very important to me – photographing birds in flight and doing it well. I’ll use a single series of photos of a bird in flight that I think offers pretty strong evidence to support the premise that at least some of the hype is actually backed up by performance.<\/p>\n
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Four days ago on Antelope Island I got this male Long-billed Curlew in my viewfinder just before he took off. He was far away and small in the original frame (this version of the first photo has been cropped significantly – you’re about to see how significantly). I got 12 photos of him in flight, presented below.<\/p>\n
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Before I present the rest of the series I think it will help my viewers to visualize how much I’ve cropped these images if I include this full frame (uncropped) version of the previous image. The curlew really was small in the frame. When he took off he flew slightly away from me so in the following images he becomes slowly but progressively even smaller in the original (uncropped) frames.<\/p>\n
OK, let’s see the rest of the ‘evidence’. I won’t include narration because the images speak for themselves. At the end I’ll offer my personal conclusions, for what they’re worth.<\/p>\n
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This is the last shot I got before the window opening of my pickup prevented me from swinging my lens any further to my right. If that hadn’t happened I’m confident that I would have many more sharp shots of the curlew. As it was, in this shot the bird had reached the right frame edge and I was beginning to lose sharp focus on him.<\/p>\n
Conclusions:<\/p>\n
I realize that a single series of photos proves nothing. But for me this series is strong evidence of the pretty amazing capabilities of the R5 with birds in flight, especially when combined with other similar experiences I’ve had with my new camera.<\/p>\n
If results like this continue I can easily put up with some of the aggravating quirks of the mirrorless Canon R5, even though at times they can be truly annoying.<\/p>\n
Ron<\/p>\n
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